Dark Forest Dragons
by LaylaHeartfilia Celestial Mage
Summary: Natsu's fire lit the dark hallway, lighting the way for the rest of his team. The dark stonewalls dripped, slick with water leaking from the hairline cracks in the vaulted ceiling. A drop of water landed on Lucy's nose, making her shiver, unnerved by the sinister look of their surroundings. A long low moan echoed through the hallway. In front of her, Natsu stopped tense.
1. Chapter 1

Dark Forest Dragons Chap .1

Natsu's fire lit the dark hallway, lighting the way for the rest of his team. The dark stonewalls dripped, slick with water leaking from the hairline cracks in the vaulted ceiling. A drop of water landed on Lucy's nose, making her shiver, unnerved by the sinister look of their surroundings. A long low moan echoed through the hallway. In Front of her, Natsu stopped tense. She bumped into him, causing a chain reaction, kinda like dominos. Grey, clothes conveniently discarded, hit her from behind, and Erza, with her amour clanking, hit Grey.

Lucy looked ahead, curious as to what had made her almost unshakeable team mate stop in his tracks. She gasped. A large cavern opened up in front of them, ceiling disappearing into a seemingly endless black. The flame on Natsu's fingertip only illuminated a small portion of the surrounding space. But, as creepy as all this was, it was not what had made Natsu stop. In the center of the lighted space, was a small basin of water. And in that water, was the torn up, mangled body of the very man they had been hired to find. Ron Gabato, criminal extraordinaire, the man responsible for hundreds of mass murders. They should have been glad he was dead.

His body was not a pretty sight. In the center of his chest was an oak sapling, the tree seemed to have grown out of his body, roots piercing his chest at odd angles, only to reappear, poking out of his legs and arms, rooting him to the ground. His blood stained the water red, soaking into the tree.

Behind her she heard Grey and Erza gasp. The sound broke Natsu's trance, slowly he walked forward. Carefully skirting the blood on the floor. Lucy hesitantly followed after him. Finally someone spoke, it was Natsu ''Hey, guys. This smells fresh, I thi-'' Natsu froze, slowly, he breathed in and started again. '' I thin-, no I know that whoever did this is still here.''

Just as he finished his sentence a dark blur collided with Natsu, causing his flame to extinguish. Lucy heard Grey and Erza shouting. Next she saw the telltale flash of Erza activating her magic, re-quipping into one of her various amours, and the drop in temperature as Grey prepared to use his Ice Make Magic. Lucy grabbed her pouch of keys, drawing out Leo's. But before she could utter Leo's incantation, a hand covered her mouth. Lucy writhed in the person's firm grasp. She tried to scream but all the came out past the hand was a muffled yell. A spark of hope lit in Lucy's chest, Natsu, with his exceptional hearing had heard her and turned around, a flame licking around his hand. His eyes widened as he took in her situation. Then Natsu growled, the person holding Lucy swore under its breath, distinctly male.

'' Let Lucy go, -'' said Natsu pausing to see of his suggestive orders were being followed, he frowned seeing that the man had not complied, continued.'' I said let her go!''

Natsu, losing patience, growled again and launched himself at the man

'' Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!'' Natsu's fist lit on fire boosting his speed,

'' Nature Dragon's Defense! '' Yelled the man behind Lucy. The hand that had held in her screams momentarily let go to release a torrent of magical energy that shot into the ground, creating a solid wall of trees. Lucy screamed. Natsu crashed into the wall with a solid sounding thud, yelling in frustration as he pounded against the barrier. His punched doing little damage.

Frantic, Lucy scanned the cavern, looking for Grey and Erza. They were both engaged in battles of their own, Grey against a woman with long pink hair, Erza against a man with blue hair. Both looked hard pressed to defend themselves.

Abruptly the hand was replaced, just as Natsu broke through the barrier. Lucy felt her captor tense, then he shouted

"Nature Dragon's Constricting Vines!" Lucy watched in horror as Natsu was quickly covered in thick vines.

"I'm sorry Lucy, I don't want to do this." murmured the man holding her, before his fist connected with her abdomen and she blacked out.

**A/N-Authors note**

**Hey guys! This is my first Fairy Tail fic! I hope you enjoyed this little chappy. For all those who don't know what Fairy Tail is, look it up and watch the first episode. Just do it. Trust me you will be addicted! I know I am ;) Any way, I'm Ally, I don't have an update schedule yet but I do know that I wont release the next chapter until the one after that is written.**

**If you are wondering about the magical spells and such with the various characters just pm/review and the next chapter I'll add in a explanation, ok?**

**And just incase any one who knows FT is wondering, I am a NaLu shipper( if you don't know what I'm talking about, again just look it up lol. And I know this chapter isn't very long but the next ones will be at least 1500 word's k?**

**OK! Bye bye for now-Ally**

**P.S**

**Read these A/N's ok, they may contain important update info.**


	2. Chapter 2

Dark Forest Dragons Chap.2

Lucy could hear voices, it must have been Natsu and Grey fighting again. Damit, couldn't Erza shut them up? As if queued by her disgruntled half awake thoughts, a strong female voice cut though the loud bickering. " Cant you two keep it down!? You'll wake her up!"

" Erzzzzzaaaaa, can you keep it down? I'm trying to sleeeeep." Lucy mumbled, turning over to face the crackling camp fire. The hearty smell of fish wafted from the 4 skewers suspended over the fire, slowly roasting. Lucy sat up and rubbed her eyes, running a hand through her slightly messy hair. She froze. Three strangers sat around the fire, quietly talking. The one closest to her had dark forest green hair, ruffled in a careless ' I just got out of bed way'. He was wearing a pair of long blue shorts with a tight grey tank top that showed off his impressive muscles, a dark leather jacket wrapped around his waist.

He turned his head towards Lucy, his face creased in a slightly concerned expression. Clear soft green eyes met warm chocolate brown ones. The two stared into each others eyes mesmerized. Seeing his companion pause, the man next to him turned to face her, his eyes widened in shock. He quickly turned and nudged the green haired man.

"Ehh, hey Fai? I thought you said she was going to stay asleep till Haven's." This one had just off white hair with a few neon blue streaks, and piercing violet eyes, he was wearing a deep blue almost navy blazer with a white polo shirt, the gold chain around his neck seemed to glow in the morning light, a small silver dragon dangling from one of the links. He was wearing baggy blue jeans and sneakers. The other man, Fai, turned to the woman with a helpless expression. She had long light pink hair that fell in graceful waves to her wide hips, she was wearing a purple V cut shirt that barely covered her large chest with white caprice and brown mid thigh boots. She had dark blue eyes that seemed to sparkle in the soft light from the fire, she had a prominent nose paired with full ruby red lips. The woman smacked the whitette on the top of his head,

"Owwww. Luna! What'd you that for?'' asked the man.

"You BAKA! You gave her the wrong dose!'' Luna smacked the man again before turning to Lucy. Who had been watching the current proceedings with a bemused expression on her face. She frowned, feeling a pang of loneliness. Lucy scratched the back of her neck, she tried to remember why she was lonely. She felt as though something was missing, Lucy tried to grasp at memories and as soon as she felt she remembered, she would forget all over again. Her confusion turned to panic as she realized she couldn't remember how she got here, in fact she knew a large chunk of her life had passed and she now had no recollection of it.

"I'm sorry these idiots woke you up Lucy. -" The woman glared at the boys giving them the evil eye when she said 'idiot'. She looked over at Lucy and saw the panic clearly written across her face. The woman looked concerned, but still continued,

" Lucy, are you ok? I hop-''

" I'm sorry, where am I, how do you know my name, and who are you?" Lucy interrupted the pinkette. The woman took a double take at Lucy's question, pausing to take a second and come up with a response to a question she was clearly unprepared to answer. Lucy could practically see the gears turning in her head.

The woman seemed to reach a conclusion and smiled,

" Lucy, we found you unconscious lying in a ditch on the side of the road, do you remember how you got there?" the woman smiled encouragingly. _I was in a ditch? _Lucy thought, once again confused. _How did I get there?_ Lucy unconsciously put a hand to her hip, feeling for the comforting leather pouch containing her set of celestial gate keys, she froze. Then sat up straighter frantically patting her side, she couldn't feel her keys. Lucy felt the panic rise in her throat.

Luna felt bad about lying to the girl, she felt a particularly painful stab of guilt when Lucy's face turned from confused to visibly panicked. Luna looked over at Fai and Llelo taking in their confused expressions, she gave them both a look that she hoped told them to just play along. Fai seemed to understand. He nodded his head slightly. She sighed, hoping Llelo would understand such a subtle hint like that was evidently to much to ask.

"That still doesn't explain where I, no we are and who for the love of Mavis **you** are." Said Lucy, " Also I would very much like to know just what you've done with **my **Keys."

" Well, it only seems fair that you should know our names since we know yours. My name is Luna, and these boys are Llelo and Faolin or Fai for short.''

Luna pointed to each boy as she said his name, Faolin was the one with green hair and Llelo was the one with the ridiculous blazer.

" Common Luna we could have introduced our selves ya'no." Llelo said almost under his breath, but he waved and said "Hi" anyways. He elbowed his partner in the ribs. Faolin looked up and muttered something under his breath before standing up and stalking off into the forest surrounding them.

Lucy flinched, wondering what she did wrong. Luna, noting her friend's distress, sighed. Fai was always like this around new people. Plus, she would bet a thousand jewel he also felt guilty about abducting her.

"Lucy," Luna started, hoping to distract the blond from Fai's untimely departure. If Luna knew Faolin Silvertone, and she did, he was probably brooding and actually meant Lucy no harm. Lucy looked over at Luna, refocusing her full attention on the pinkette. Luna continued,

" When you say keys, you don't perchance mean these?''

Luna held up Lucy leather pouch, the tip of Loke's key peeked out from the side, as if he was trying to see if she was ok. Lucy tried to get up, and would have fell on her face if Llelo hadn't grabbed Lucy's forearm and stopped her haphazard decent. Llelo's unexpected touch sent a cold shock though her body, Lucy felt her cheeks flare up as his grip slid down her arm and stopped at her hand. Llelo pulled her up, for a moment forgetting how strong he was and how light Lucy was. Lucy shot up, shrieking as she was pulled by her new friend's powerful grip. She almost fell back again when two large and slightly calloused hands caught her, circling around her waist and lifting her into his lap so she was straddling Llelo's waist. Lucy blushed harder if that was even possible, as she was literally two inches away from his face, Llelo was a handsome man. He leaned in closer, so their noses touched.

"You should get up now,'' He smirked, "You know, before Fai see's this."

Lucy sat for a moment before coming to her senses, she sprang up and

"Lucy Kick!" nailed Llelo in the face.

"Owwweee! What'd you do that for Lucy!" cried Llelo, holding his now bloody nose.

"You know Lucy. Llelo must actually like you for you to be able to land a hit on him that easily! He hasn't let any one hit him, well… excluding Fai and I, in like forever!" said Luna. Lucy blushed again, but wasn't sure if she was joking. The merry glint in her eyes said yes, but her tone of voice was serious. _But if he did like her, wouldn't that make it awkward? Ghaaa! Did this mean he was going to ask her out?!_

Lucy sighed, gate keys long forgotten, she was over thinking things again. Just like when Mira said Natsu could like her. But in reality all he wanted was for Virgo, one of her celestial spirits to help him dig for treasure. Lucy's train of thought abruptly halted. Who was Natsu? She recalled the name again and with it came a fuzzy image of a spikey pink haired man, his face stretched into a wide grin. Who was he? Why did his name feel so important? She snapped out of her wonderings. Llelo was talking.

"-cy, Luuuucy, Lucy, are you ok? Your face is all scrunched up, it looks kinda weird."

Lucy was struck with another memory,

_Lucy sat at a long oak counter, she was reading a large leather bound book. A slender woman with long silver hair was serving drinks and chatting with others seated at the counter. Lucy was sitting next to a small girl her own age with shoulder length blue hair held back by a yellow bandana. Everything around her was a hazy blur of bright color's and sound, well all but the book and bluenette that is. _She could vaguely recall the girl's name, Levy, Levy McGarden_. Lucy was talking to Levy about the books she had read in the past week. Solid lances of ice and long tendrils of fire blew past her cheek but she ignored it, just Natsu and Grey fighting again._ There it was again! That name, Natsu…. Just who was he to her? What did he have to do with the forgotten half of her life? _Lucy chuckled as she heard Erza intervene. Levy turned to her " Ha-ha Lu-chan, the boys must have hit Erza-san's cake again." Lucy laughed at that and shook her head in mock disappointment, _

" _Aye, when will they ever learn?" Lucy looked back, just in time to see Natsu and Grey running from a very angry Erza Titania. She made a mental note, never disturb Erza when eating cake. Lucy looked back over at Levy to find her friend lost in the pages of her latest book. Lucy hummed contentedly and turned back to her own book. _

_Awhile later, when Erza had calmed down and acquired another piece of cake. Lucy finished the chapter she was reading and was mentally debating weather or not she should stay and eat at the guild or go home and risk Natsu raiding her kitchen. Just then Lucy was wrenched from her thoughts by the very person she was thinking about, Natsu was sitting on the bar in front of her. Waving his hand in front of her face, and seeing that he had succeeded into capturing her attention his face lit with a wide grin and then with a completely straight face said "Lucy what are you doing? Your face is all scrunched up, weirdo."_

Lucy blinked, she was lying on the ground and wrapped in a warm blanket. A icy cloth was draped on her forehead. Confused, Lucy tried to sit up only to be pushed back down by a large hand. Bewildered she stared at the offending hand and slowly looked along the hand, up the arm, past the shoulder and to the face. Lucy blinked again, Faolin was kneeling in front of her, head turned away and eyes averted, cold cloth in one hand the other on her chest… Holding her down… Lucy stared at his hand,

Faolin glanced at her and frowned, Lucy was bright red. Concern flitted across his strong features. Was her fever worse? He shifted forward and his hand pressed more into something soft… Faolin looked down, and realized just exactly what he was leaning on. And in turn he flushed, realizing his hand was still… um … on her. He scrambled back falling on his hands. Faolin sat up, crossed legged. He cleared his throat and looked at his neatly folded hands. Lucy sat up and pulled her knees to her chest, curling into a ball.

" You where, um sick. And, Luna and Llelo had to leave, to um you know, well they had to… go on a mission, and uh wont be back in a while." Faolin cleared his throat again, and glanced backup at Lucy. She was twiddling her thumbs

"Oh." Was all she said in reply. Lucy coughed on the back of her hand and straightened, " I would like my gate keys please," she curled back onto a ball, then in a quieter voice, almost a whisper added " I, I don't feel safe without them." Faolin nodded processing her request. He had almost forgotten, before Luna and Llelo left Luna had told him,

"_When Lucy wakes up she'll probably ask for her keys, give them to her. She blacked out before I got the chance. I'll put them in your green set of saddlebags, you remember the set right? The ones you use for Razz." Luna paused, thinking "Oh, and on the subject of horses… you know the merchants town between this forest and Haven's? Buy her a good mare, she'll need one." _Luna had said more but that wasn't important. He stood and turned, walking over to his tent and ducking inside.

Lucy took the opportunity of Fai's absence to survey her new surroundings; the sun was close to setting. Faolin's one green tent was erected in the middle of a small clearing. A smoking fire pit was dug near her makeshift bed, providing minimal warmth. She noted that this was a different place from when she woke in the company of Llelo and Luna, that place was much bigger, having had space for 3 tents. The grass rustled behind her, Lucy whipped around, ready to face any unknown monster waiting to eat her. She saw nothing out of the ordinary and relaxed, then out of nowhere a long black, whitey pinky blob dropped in front of her, breathing hot air in her face She screeched.

Faolin rummaged in his bags, he could have sworn Luna had said she put the pouch of keys in his green saddlebags, they weren't there. He frowned and looked again, spilling the contents of the bag out on his air mattress and examining it. He found his toothbrush and accompanying toothpaste, a pocketknife his father had found for him, and his apparently no longer lost left sock. Faolin growled, where had his older sister put those keys?

He was about to rip the bag apart in order to find then when he heard Lucy scream. Fai immediately assumed the worst and bolted out of the tent, already whispering an incantation, completely ready to attack the thing that threatened Lucy. He stopped dead in his tracks and stared, Lucy was face to nose with his horse. Fai couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. And this wasn't some quick little ha-ha, it was full blown laugh attack. The laughter seemed to take over his whole body, forcing him down to the ground. He started to calm down then he looked at her face, her face. That's what did him in, the expression of pure mortification. Lucy was scared of his horse? His horse!? He couldn't stop, not this time. Fai laughed until he was gasping for air and then some.

He slowly calmed down, to the point that he only chuckled every now and aging sheepishly he looked over at Lucy. She seemed to reconcile with her fear of horses and was now petting Razz slowly. Lucy slowly tuned around and looked at Faolin, then in a slightly indignant tone said,

"What, are you done laughing yet?" she sniffed indignantly and turned back to the horse. She ripped up some of the grass that surrounded them and offering it to Razz who in turn lipped up the grass, munching contentedly. Fai walked over to Lucy, and crouched down next to her.

" Would you like to know his name?"

Lucy silently noted that he skirted her question but her curiosity over took her hurt pride. How dare he laugh at her! But in spite of herself she nodded.

"Razz."

Again Lucy nodded, the name seemed to fit the large horse well. Razz was very big; he was a warm shade brown that faded to black around his nose and down his legs. His mane and tail were also black, he had a long wide white blaze that ran down his face fading to pink as it thinned around his nose. His big brown eyes had a kind look.

" I' v had him since I was little, he was my first horse." Fai sat down next to Lucy and continued, "I got him when I was 11 years old, raised him from a foal to what you see now. My father brought him back from a neighboring town, said I could keep him if I could break him. And I did, he's gone every where with me ever since.'' Faolin glanced over at the tent entrance, his eyes drawn by the subtle glint of something gold. Without a work he straightened, and walked over the tent bending over. When he stood backup in his hand where Lucy's celestial keys. Wordlessly he strode back to Lucy and handed her the pouch the keys where stored in. Lucy smiled as she held her keys then, opened the pouch and carefully withdrew an intricate golden key with a pink celestial sign embossed on the handle. Sweeping it though the air she cried

" Open, Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!"

A sudden bright puff of golden light and the faint chime of a bell blasted through the clearing, when the dust settled a pink haired girl in a maid's uniform stood in behind Lucy.

" Good evening Hime, is it punishment time?" asked Virgo, bowing. Before Lucy had the chance to speak, she was pushed aside.

" Who are you and what do you want." She spun in time to see Faolin swing his sword up to Virgos throat, a wary look in his eyes. Virgo remained unfazed,

"Hime, is this you new traveling companion?" she asked, delicately extricating herself from beneath the swords razor edge. Lucy finally recovered from the initial shock of seeing Fai draw his sword on Virgo and stood. Marching up to Faolin, she grabbed his sword arm and forcefully pulled his sword from his hand. She staggered as she wrestled the surprisingly heavy sword from Fai's unresisting hand.

" How DARE you attack one of MY spirits!'' yelled Lucy, her previous mask of calm shattering as she vented her rage on Faolin. He backed away, putting his hands up in surrender,

" Sorry. I didn't know. I th-" Lucy clobbered Faolin with the flat of the sword, halting his sentence midway. Lucy harrumphed, dropping the sword and stalking away. She turned and fixed Fai with a death glare. He turned and stalked into the forest, once again leaving Lucy in shocked silence.

**And that's the second chappy ! Any-ways ….. hope u liked this story so far, and as promised this chapter was a lot longer. 3000 words!,**

**Any way standard disclaimer blahblahblah **

**Bye-bye _ Ally**

PS . If anyone is confused on the plot so far here it is explained,

Lucy was "kidnapped" and has lost her memory of FT and more importantly Natsu, she woke up with strangers and is now alone with one of them.

And I know Lucy may seem a little ooc but just bear with me.


	3. Chapter 3

Dark Forest Dragons Chap .3

-One Week Later-

The only sounds to break the oppressing silence where the dry leaves crunched under the hooves of their horses and their own breathing. The sunlight eliminated the otherwise dark cracked cobblestone path that wound it's way through the treacherous forest. The place smelled of pine needles and damp grass, tainted by the sharp sent of coppery blood and death. The forest was silent, which was unusual considering whom the ancient trees sheltered.

Luna glanced at Llelo. It was too silent. There should have been birds song softly floating from the leafy rafters, its absence alone sent shivers down her spine. She could feel a slight breeze on her face.

They where almost at their destination, she could tell by the way the pine and evergreen trees grew. At the fringe of the boarder forest the trees where small, young, only barely under "his" influence. The farther one ventured into the leafy canopy the taller and wider the trees grew.

In fact every thing in this part of the forest was big, the trees where wider than houses, the underbrush was as almost tall as she was, even the stone path had grown. If they had wanted, they could have had 10 horses walk side by side and still have ample room.

Beside her Llelo stiffened, his horse halted ears back, wary. Luna stopped her horse with a flick of her reins confused, the smell hit her before the sound did. The powerful intoxicating scent of rotting flesh and fermented blood washed over her, the smell made worse by her dragon senses. She picked up the feral growl, to faint to be heard by normal human ears. They weren't alone on the path any more, the Hybrids had found them. The only other time Luna had encountered Hybrids was with Lúa, with out their dragons they where in trouble.

She looked to Llelo hoping for his brash cocky confidence that always gave her the strength to get through whatever life threw at them, it wasn't there. Instead fear and panic where written all over his face. " Luna, I need you to run and find Fírnen when I count down from 5 ok? You have to take Kosmos with you, he has the Stone with him. " Llelo looked at Luna and gave her a weak smile. It would be ok; the Hybrids usually were solitary creatures and hated hunting in groups. She was confidant Llelo could take on one hybrid and have a good chance of keeping his life.

A Hybrid stepped into a beam of sunlight. Its tarnished cracked brass scales glittered dully in the midday sunlight, its beady red eyes flitted in between the two travelers. Long strings of green tinted drool hung from its half open mouth, its long orange forked tongue flicked out from between razor sharp yellow teeth. A pair of deformed wings hung limp from its shoulder blades, to small to be of any use to the creature. Midway down its stocky body, the scales gave way to thick gray matted fur. It was quite appalling really, the thing looked as if someone had stuck the front half of a baby dragon onto her hind end of a wolf.

Luna gasped in horror, out of the surrounding bush, stepped two more Hybrids, wolves tails flicking to and fro with the anticipation of the hunt.

" Ill be fine, ok." Luna could hear the panic and fear in his strained whisper.

She gulped and nodded, Llelo would make it, he had to. Llelo slowly dismounted and gave the reins of his horse to Luna, then walked away into the middle of the road and started counting,

"Five, Four, Three, Two, -" Llelo never finished, one of the Hybrids had circled around, into Llelo's blind spot.

And before Luna could scream, it had jumped, crushing Llelo to the ground with a sickening crunch. Luna panicked,

" Moon Rider's Heavenly Strike!" She screamed, momentarily forgetting that she was supposed to be running.

Darkness and chuck of moonstone shot from her outstretched hand breakneck speed. It hit the Hybrid broadside, sending it flying into one of the trees. Llelo struggled to his feet, his back torn in several places from the Hybrids claws. His blood ran in rivers to the ground. Pooling in large puddles of dark liquid that only served to invigorate the hybrids more, sending them in to barely contained frenzy.

"Luna, RUN! Damit!"

Luna turned, tying Kosmo's reigns to a loop in her saddle and spurring her own horse into a long gallop. A single tear broke free, rolling down her cheek. She couldn't look back, Luna knew if she did she would go back and try to help Llelo. Then both of them would be lost.

Fírnen was roused by the faint thunder of horse's hooves, he twitched, causing an avalanche of dust. The dust, he foggily reasoned must had accumulated on his scales over the month or so that had passed since Faolin had departed for his mission. His long stocky body was stretched out to its full length in the dark confines of his damp den, his pine green scales glittered in the shreds of light let in by the vine drapes that sheltered his den form the forest around him. His large leathery wings where folded loosely to his sides, his tail wound around his body, cradling his head, keeping it of the hard cold ground.

He opened one of his dark green eyes, his slit pupil, dilated from the dark of his den. Fírnen snorted, sending twin plumes of dust spiraling out to dance in the patchwork of subtle sunlight that adorned the jagged rock and hard packed dirt that blanketed the bottom of his cave. He then opened his other eye and parted his jaws in a long and luxurious yawn. Fírnen lifted his head moving his neck off his forearms and tail, he looked back at his body and vaguely registered the grime that now sullied his once pristine and clean scales. Fírnen curled his upper lip with distaste, how could he have let his scales get so dirty. He made a mental note to sit down and give himself a proper cleaning later.

Fírnen flicked his long reptilian forked tong around the inside of his mouth, then past his dry lips, licking them as he tasted the air. All he could discern was that most importantly, there was a dead rabbit by his foot, and secondly, all of the dried beef Faolin had left him was gone, eaten by the rodents that had made a home of his cave while he was sleeping.

The pounding grew closer, tearing him out of his meditative train of thought. Who ever was coming, it would take them a good five minutes to get to his clearing. Fírnen taped his claws on the ground, inadvertently spearing the dead rabbit. He felt sudden hunger claw his belly and without a second thought raised the rabbit to his mouth and popped it in, not even chewing it.

Still hungry, Fírnen lurched to his feet, shacking himself much like a dog would, in an effort to dislodge some of the remaining dirt. Slowly he stretched, again like a dog, first leaning backwards and stretching his forearms, then pulling forwards to stretch his hind legs. Pulling forward, he turned and still being hungry, deiced to hunt the rest of the little food morsels in his cave.

Fírnen laying in the middle of his cave and was midway through a deer that he found crushed under his tail when he heard a voice calling out to him through his vine wall,

"Fírnen! Are you in there? Please come out. We need your help, please." The voice broke on the last word, it sounded desperate. Fírnen knew this voice, it was Lúa's partner-of-mind-and-body, Luna.

Begrudgingly Fírnen surged to his feet, dust falling like waterfalls down his back. He drooped his deer and shook himself like a dog, he slowly stepped out into the light of his forest. Instantly Fírnen's mind was bombarded with the pleas of the forests inhabitants. He slammed up his mental defenses, Fírnen curled his lip in irritation. He had forgotten to put up a mental barrier to shield his mind from the forests constant babbling.

"Fírnen, I'm down here… Please, Llelo's in the forest. Fírnen, the hybrids, their back." If Fírnen wasn't fully awake before, that sentence did a fine job of it.

Luna was clearly panicked, she kept babbling about how they needed to go save Llelo, but Fírnen tuned her out. Hybrids, in his forests? He growled,

"_Where are they Luna, partner of Lúa, tell me so that I might rid the world of their fowl presence." _Fírnen's deep mental voice broke the silence between them.

" Follow me" Luna said, relived that they where going to get moving.

She whipped her horse around and with Kosmos in tow sped of in to the line of trees.

Fírnen stretched, opening his large pale green wings to their full extent before re-folding them halfway, luxuriating in the felling of stretching long unused muscles. He lifted his long neck up and let out an earsplitting roar, letting all who my hear know that he, Fírnen, king of the boarder forest was back.

Then set out in an earth-shaking sprint following Luna's sent deeper into his forest.

The 5 remaining hybrids circled Llelo, seemingly more wary now that half of their number had fallen. Llelo wasn't doing so hot either, his whole body hurt, the first hybrid had ripped up his back, limiting his upper body's mobility. And just after Luna had left another hybrid had caught him above his right eye, his blood kept dripping into his eye blurring his vision. Llelo could also feel his magical energy decreasing rapidly, he gave himself two more minutes tops before he ran out of fuel. Finally one of the braver hybrids lunged, aiming to knock Llelo over,

"Frost Rider's Ice Break-Up!" Llelo cried.

A thin sheet of ice formed over his fist, he punched the hybrid on the underside of its belly, the hybrid emitted a pitiful cry as it was thrown into the air into its one of two remaining pack mates. The firsts momentum sent both careening into a near by tree with a sickening crunch. Llelo's ice began to take its toll on the two hybrids, starting from where he had hit the first hybrid, ice started to spread outward, enveloping the creatures in a thick layer of ice and effectively killing both of them.

The sudden drain on his energy was far greater than Llelo expected. His legs bucked under him and he fell hard to the ground. _I guess it ends here_, Llelo thought, dryly chuckling. Then one of the 3 remaining hybrids saw its opportunity and sprang, claws extended, jaw unhinged and ready to rip him to shreds. He closed his eyes and waited for death.

Then he heard it, and or rather he felt it, the ground shattering gait of a dragon running at full speed. His heart swelled with a hope and newfound strength. Llelo couldn't die here, he couldn't give up this easily.

Using the last bit of energy he had left, Llelo surged to his feet. Whipping around and roundhouse kicking the hybrid, sending it crashing to the ground.

Llelo laughed and ducked as Luna's Heavenly Strike sailed over his head. It hit one of the remaining hybrids in the chest, tearing a hole through the scales into the thick bands of muscle beneath. He looked up to see Fírnen speed past him, bowling into the remaining hybrid with the air of a dragon whom had not eaten in months and was ready to kill. Snick, Fírnen's jaws snapped around the hybrids head, sending blood spurting from the stump.

Llelo turned away and walked up to Luna, who was examining one of the frozen hybrids. Luna suddenly turned and hugged him,

"Llelo are you alright?" she said, her voice muffled by his cloak. He smiled, then winced,

"Luna I'm fin-" Llelo started to say but was interrupted,

"Llelo you are soooo not fine its not even funny, now sit down," Luna let go and pushed Llelo backwards on to one of the over sized tree roots. Llelo grunted, _Then why'd ya ask, dumb-ass._

" Now sit still will you?" Luna's hand started to glow with a soft purple light as she started to mutter a spell of healing, almost instantly Llelo relaxed, feeling the pain disappear under Luna's light touch.

Llelo glanced over Luna's shoulder in time to see Fírnen finish off the last of the hybrids, its gray tail disappearing into Fírnen gaping mouth. Llelo spoke up, wanting to acknowledge the dragon's timely help.

" Fírnen, thank you." Fírnen surprised, looked over to the two humans sitting on a tree root and wondered why for the love of Haven they would feel the need to thank him.

Drawing a blank Fírnen just snorted and looked away, emitting a subtle puff of acidic smoke in the proses.

"Fírnen?" the green dragon looked back at the humans again,

" How would you like to see Faolin again? You can come with us… if you want to." Fírnen looked up at Luna's suggestion, he defiantly wanted to see his partner-of-mind-and-body again.

In his opinion the whole mission would have gone a lot faster if Faolin had not insisted on riding his deer-horse. Also Fírnen knew Faolin always kept his saddle with him. So why was he hesitating? Ah yes, the exalter's orders, said that showing the human girl Fai had been sent to collect a dragon before she trusted his partner would be catastrophic. Fírnen snorted in annoyance, releasing more smoke. He thought the humans would do much better if the wrinkly old-fashioned exalter had not order them all…. Ghaaa it was making him angry just thinking about it. But he couldn't let the humans get suspicious, he had to clam down before answering.

" _I will not be going with you, Luna partner of Lúa and Llelo partner of Lanćer." _Fírnen said, speaking to both Luna and Llelo.

Llelo frowned at the sullen tone of the green dragons thoughts, he had thought the dragon would jump at the chance to see his partner again. Indeed Llelo himself was feeling the pangs from the long separation with Lanćer, his own draconic partner. And he knew for a fact that Luna was also lonely.

"Well that's ok, if you're sure you don't want to come Fírnen. Llelo, should we go back now? I mean, I wouldn't mind waiting here for a few days if you wana rest… But" Luna looked at Llelo's ripped traveling cloak, and underneath that, his utterly destroyed blazer. She giggled,

" Llelo, your blazer is totally ruined." Llelo let out a shout of dismay and shot off the tree root, spinning around frantically, desperately searing for the rips in his precious blazer.

The action was rendered pointless by the fact he was still wearing his traveling cloak. Finally Llelo gave up and just took of his cloak, flinging it across the clearing, and then he resumed spinning. A strange vibrating sound reverberated thought the clearing. Llelo stopped spinning and stood staring at Fírnen. The dragon was shaking his giant head back and forth, he stomped one of his oversized feet. Then Llelo realized exactly what Fírnen was doing, the dragon was laughing at him!

Llelo harrumphed, turning around to see Luna laughing too. He turned exactly 90 degrees and stalked off into the forest, muttering something about, "People not understanding the importance of blazers."

**Well that's it for this chappy, 1728 words-ish. Now, even though this was not about Lucy or any of the original FT. characters, it is important with setting up my plot line ok? **

**-bye bye for now, Ally .**

P.S I know it may be confusing with who's POV it is at different times during this story. But I think I made it pretty clear, but who am I to say. This is the first fan fic I have actually gotten past the ideas stage, so idk. If someone would like to see the classic Name's POV please tell me, I am doing this mostly for all you readers so if any one has any ideas or comment, be it positive or negative, please tell me ok?

,Oh ya…. Please like/ favoutite /follow and even review this story, even if its to tell me faults in the story line. This is like candy& caffeine, it motivates me to go straight back to the computer and write more! Also THANK YOU to all the people who followed and faved this story! AND I am so sorry this is late, I went on a week long tall ship trip and had no wifi Oh! An I have decided to change all of Faolin, Luna, And Llelo's spells from 'Dragons ect.' To 'Riders ect.', it work better with the overall plot and my plans… muhahahaha.

the name Fírnen is from my fav book series, Disclaimer also applies to this.


	4. Chapter 4

Dark Forest Dragons Chap. 4

Last time (with Lucy and Faolin)( chapter 2)

How DARE you attack one of MY spirits!'' yelled Lucy, her previous mask of calm shattering as she vented her rage on Faolin. He backed away, putting his hands up in surrender,

" Sorry. I didn't know. I th-" Lucy clobbered Faolin with the flat of the sword, halting his sentence midway. Lucy harrumphed, dropping the sword and stalking away. She turned and fixed Fai with a death glare. He turned and stalked into the forest, once again leaving Lucy in shocked silence.

Faolin rolled over in the damp dew-covered grass, he had been exiled from his tent for the past week after the misunderstanding with one of Lucy's 'Spirits'. He still didn't understand how her magic worked, well at least her current magic.

Faolin scooted backwards to sit up, leaning against Razz's buckskin western saddle. He was shivering, it had rained last night and he was absolutely soaked. He stretched his cold muscles, groaning in pleasure as he felt the stiffness fade. Faolin stood up and took off his wet shirt, shivering as the cool morning breeze. Fai took a moment to smell the forest. He cocked his head and smelled again, the faint sent of dragon hatchlings wafted around the clearing. _We should probably leave before high noon. _Fai thought, he did not want to risk messing with a mother dragonell with hatchlings. That would be very messy.

He grimaced, and reached down to hook his fingers through his belt loops, shimmying the wet material over his soaked boxers. Faolin's pants where halfway down his thighs when he heard scuffling from the canvas tent behind him. Lucy was awake.

Grunting in annoyance, he surveyed his surroundings. Looking for a good place to raise one of his 'green screens' as Luna liked to call them, he found one over by the edge of their campsite. After he grabbing his new clothes from his saddle bag, he half shuffled, half hopped over to the side of the site he had chosen. He shivered, "Rider's Defense" Fai muttered, wincing at the ripping noise that accompanied the accelerated growth of the wall of thick living vines. Once the barrier had grown to the desired height, Faolin released the spell. He paused, listening for the tell tale noises that meant he had woken Lucy. Sighing in relief, Fai released the tension in his shoulders. He had learned over the past week that wakening Lucy before she was ready was a truly pain full experience.

On the second morning of his 'exile' he had gotten up at dawn, as per usual and had gone about his, rather loud morning routine. Effectively waking Lucy at the apparently 'Ungodly Hour of 7 in the morning' as she had so blatantly put it. After being woken, she had promptly stalked out of her, well really _his, _tent but what ever. Her hair was wild and unkempt, and her clothes where rumpled, she had stalked toward him and with one of her brown leather heeled boots in hand. She stopped in front of him, with her eyebrows scrunched and eyes silted. She fixed him with a glare that rivaled Luna's, then Lucy had whacked him with her boot and had told him "_I would appreciate it if you would refrain from waking me up at the most ungodly hour of Seven in the morning. Please" _she had added the please as if it was an after thought. Then she had walked back the tent and had probably gone back to sleep. Since then he had gone about his morning routine carefully trying had to not wake the sleeping 'beauty' in his tent. Faolin still had a bruise from where Lucy had hit him with both his sword and her boots. That girl was way to much work in the mornings, they should pay him more to do this. Wait, he wasn't getting paid.

Razz nickered, ambling over to him and good naturedly butting him with his nose, silently asking for the treat he knew was in Fai's pants pocket. Fai chuckled and scratched the horse under his chin as he pulled the rest of his pants off. Now only clad in his wet boxers he thought about what needed to be done today. They where about half a days ride from the small merchant town that marked the half-way point for their journey, there they, well he, would buy more supplies like food, water, etc. then they would find shelter in one of the towns small inns for the night. In the morning they would set off to the far side of town, where the livery stables was situated. There Lucy would hopefully find a horse she liked and then they would be off. Back on track for their trek across Earthland to the place he called home.

Lucy jolted awake, her nightmare ran over and over in her head.

_She had dreamed she was walking slowly in a silent moonlit forest, the dirt path under her stretched far into the endless darkness. She was walking beside two boys and a girl who looked to be about her age, one boy had bright pink hair that stuck out haphazardly in all directions and in his had was a glowing ball of flame. He had a open vest with no shirt underneath, showing off his well built muscles. The other boy had no shirt with a small sword necklace around his neck, his raven hair only seemed to grow blacker in the light from the fire in the pink haired boys hand. He had a strange dark blue symbol on his chest, she had noticed at some point during the dream that she had a matching symbol in pink on her hand. _

_The girl was clad in a simple armored chest plate and arm bracers, she had a long elegant sword strapped to her hip sheathed in a fine leather scabbard. She also had long scarlet hair that reached down to midwaist. Below the chest plate she had a cute aqua pleated skirt and armored boots. The pink haired boy turned to the raven haired boy,_

"_Yo Ice-Prick, I thought you said the entrance was this way. I cant smell anything but your frozen ass for miles!" he said sneering._

"_Ya well I guess your nose is all out'a joint from when I beat you up back at the campsite." Said the raven, tapping the pinkette's nose._

_Suddenly they where both forehead-to-forehead, fuming and hulling insults at each other so fast Lucy could barely follow. _

"_So you think you can take me Ice-Princess?"_

_ "It's not me in worried about, Flame-Brain!"_

_ "OhYA?!"_

_ "YA!"_

_Lucy could see small flames licking up and down the pinkettes clenched fists, and the air around the raven froze and the grass around his feet frosted over. Just as she thought things would get to outa hand, the scarlet haired woman sent both boys a glare that could freeze a fire dragon. She could see the sweat running down the boys backs. _

_ "Natsu, Grey…. You two aren't fighting, are you? We have a job to do, don't we Lucy?" the woman said, eyebrows raised as she looked first at the boys and then to Lucy._

_ "Ghaaa, Erza don't drag me into this!" Complained Lucy, hopping over a stray root._

_Suddenly Lucy was running through a dark stone corridor trying in vain to catch up with the same group of three people. Then she was being dragged away by someone or something while the pink haired boy was screaming to 'Let Lucy go!' as he was slowly covered in vines._

After that, everything went black and she had woken up crying. Strangely distressed about the whole ordeal.

**Time skip-4 Hours later**

**Location- The merchant town, Middle Green.**

Lucy watched as Faolin tied Razz to the hitching post outside the supply store, humming quietly to herself as she drew random pictures in the dirt.

"Lucy, in going to buy some more supplies for the trip, you can wander around town for a bit but don't go to far. Meet me here in an hour ok?" Fai turned, walked exactly 5 steps then turned abruptly. "Wait, do you have a watch?"

Lucy shook her head no, and Faolin reached down into his pocket and pulled out a plain wrist watch. He tossed it to her and once again turned back to the store, this time walking all the way in, the door slamming behind him.

**Time skip-1 Hour Later.**

Lucy stood outside the storefront that Fai had disappeared into one hour earlier. She had had a good time walking around the bustling town, looking at the bright shop fronts and entertaining street performers juggling, tossing other performers into the air, and singing loud happy songs about everything from candle sticks to mud. She heard the faint chime of a door bell and the rushed good byes and fare wells that signaled the emergence of Faolin. He walked out with the swaggering step of a man who just got a killer deal on what he needed and saved a lot of cash.

Lucy raised her eyebrow in silent question,

" All the stuff's in the back, so we'll pick it up before we leave." said Fai, sounding board, "Common Lucy we're gona go to another store now, we gotta pick up something important."

Fai started walking and with out question, Lucy fell into step beside him. She looked up at his face trying to gauge what he was thinking. He looked serious, like he always did. She sighed and scuffed her feet. She could never tell what he was thinking, it was as if he kept all his emotions hidden in a small wooden box with many small intricate locks to keep out prying eyes, she could never see past the solid wood walls. The only time she had ever gotten to see a bit of his 'true self' was when he had 'accidentally' groped her. She was also still troubled by her nightmare, what had it meant?

Lucy grunted and pulled out Plue's key,

"Open, Gate of the Canis Minor, Nicora!" she said in a quiet voice, as she didn't want to attract too much attention.

The celestial bell chimed and out of a silver puff of dust wobbled Plue, Lucy's Minor Dog spirit. He was a strange thing to behold, Plue stood on two short legs with a bloby torso and stubby arms. His head was round, and most strange of all, was the neon orange nose that sprung from his face much like that of a carrot on a snowman.

Faolin raised his eyebrow in surprise but he had long since learned not to mess with Lucy's spirits. But he had yet to see one so, decidedly odd.

"Plue! I missed you, how's everyone else doing?" Lucy whispered, hugging the poor 'dog' to death,

"Pluun, Plun!" Plue replied enthusiastically, waving his arms after Lucy put him down.

Lucy laughed, she still couldn't understand a word Plue said, but he was so cute!

**Well that's it today! I think ill take a bit more time to get a better idea on where this story's going, and again, I am sorry for how late chapter 3 was,… oh well what can you do eh? Better late than never!**


	5. Chapter 5

Dark Forest Dragons Chapter 5

Natsu's whole body hurt, as much as he tried he could not get away from the pain. He didn't remember why he was hurting, did he lose a fight? Yes he lost a fight, he could remember losing a fight. But why was he fighting? Natsu did not know. He was drifting in darkness, a never ending place of hurt and pain. He knew he was nocked out but hard as he tried he could not open his aching eyes, he could not open his parched mouth, he could not hear with his damaged ears, he could not even smell from his raw nose. He knew he should feel the sharp stab of panic that would only make sense in his current, condition. But he felt nothing but his seemingly never-ending pain, dully he wondered what he could have done to warrant such mind bending pain.

Through the never-ending darkness came a tremor, a shaking of the matter around him. Something, or someone was shaking him, he could barely pick up the faint calling of his name. The calling seemed to grow louder, more desperate as time sluggishly ticked along, and soon another voice joined in the now frenzied calling of his name. Something about that second voice ticked Natsu off, yet, he did not know why. A drop of liquid fell on his cheek, soon followed by more. Natsu wondered if it was raining. Then he head something that shocked him to his core,

"No Damit! First we lose Lucy, and now Natsu?!" the voice was distinctly female, it was also familiar.

But wait, what had happened to Lucy? Was Lucy feeling the same pain he was? What did the voices mean? He felt almost overwhelming frustration, what happened to Lucy!

He felt some of the pain start to recede, he could almost open his eyes, he could almost from word with his mouth. Then he was starring into pitch-black darkness, Natsu almost thought he was still floating in the pain but then his bloodshot emerald eyes saw a faint glow to the left-hand side of his field of vision. He shifted his head and neck to try and get a better view of the light, he cringed, feeling a cold stab of pain run up and down his stiff neck. He could dimly see two silhouettes outlined by the glow from a torch. He opened his mouth and tried to speak, but all that came out was a strangled croak. As soon as the people head his whisper they went silent, then the woman grabbed his shoulders and crushed him to her iron bosom. Now he knew whom he was with,

"E-erza, y-your cho-" Natsu coughed explosively, " Choking me!" Natsu said weakly. Erza loosened her death grip on the dragon slayer but didn't let him go.

"You pink haired bastard, you scared Erza, she though you died." Grey said in a slightly shaky voice. _You where worried to ice stripper._ Natsu thought, then he realized Lucy wasn't with the other two and he recalled Ezra's comment.

Then it all came back, the mission went wrong. Very wrong, then that shady bastard showed up with his two cronies. The man had grabbed Lucy and kept him at bay with his magic till he finally just up and covered Natsu with vines and other green things. The vines, Natsu recalled had covered him in sticky spores that paralyzed him from the neck down. He was forced to watch, helpless as the man knocked Lucy out with a punch to her abdomen and walked off scot-free. All he could do was scream her name in vain. Natsu had tried to burn through the vines, but the dam plants just wouldn't burn. Soon they had grown over his head fully paralyzing him. He had drifted into unconsciousness then.

But it couldn't be true, he couldn't have lost Lucy to that creep.

"Erza, Grey, where is Lucy." Natsu felt worry worm its way into his thoughts as he looked at the guilty faces of his friends, "Tell me now, where is Lucy."

Erza put her hand on Natsu's shoulder and looked away, "Natsu, she's gone."

Three words confirmed what he already knew. Three words shattered his existence. Three words, made him lose all self-control.

_No no NO it's NOT true, they had to be lying! _ But he knew they where telling him the truth, for he even remembered it.

Erza and Grey watched as one of their closest friends fell apart in front of them. They watched as his face went from firm denial to defeated acceptance to, nothing. Then they watched Natsu start to cry, a single tear traced from his right eye. And as if that single tear had been the only thing holding back Natsu's unbridled emotions, he began to sob in earnest not making a sound. Then Natsu wasn't in front of them anymore, he was at the stone wall, fists alight smashing them into the hard stone. Blood began to run down his fists and small bits of shale broke off the wall, littering the floor with blood, stone and tears.

Erza shed a silent tear watching Natsu smash his way through his emotional turmoil. Grey turned his head, not wanting to see his friend and rival in such a sorry state.

After a good deal of time Natsu stopped, his fists where a bloody mess. Small bits of shale and in some places, pale white bone poked its way through torn muscle tissue and fragments of skin. He looked at the wall, he looked at his blood, he looked at his two friends, and then he looked at his own two hands. A overwhelming wave of despair and defeat crushed his bravado and any hope left that this might all be a terrible, terrible nightmare. Natsu felt his legs give way and he sank to his knees, one hand sliding down the wall, keeping him from falling forward. His head came to rest on his outstretched arm. After a long minute he sighed, and using the wall as a kind of make shift crutch, stood and faced his team.

"We have to go back to the guild and tell them what happed to L-lucy" Natsu choked on her name, not wanting to say it. Not wanting to admit that he had some how failed to keep his Luce safe.

well i am truly evil, this is the shortest chapter yet and i do feel a bit bad for that….. but aleast its something …. and i am sorry for how late this is :l


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